United to go on shortened pre-season tour to USA in July

Via the Telegraph:

After kicking up a fuss about United's pre-season tour last summer, where United played five games in five different cities (travelling from LA before moving on to Denver, Washington DC, Detroit and Miami), his desire to start the season off in far less demanding fashion appears to have come true... 

Louis van Gaal has won his battle for less-demanding pre-season tour commitments at Manchester United with the club close to finalising a two-week trip to the United States in July. 

Van Gaal made a series of public complaints last summer about the organisation of the club’s five-game tour of the States, with the Dutchman angered by travelling distances, kick-off times and the commercial demands placed on his players. 

While Van Gaal accepts the need for the club to satisfy its many sponsors and partners by undertaking tours to the States and Far East, the United manager has overseen every aspect of this summer’s pre-season preparations after inheriting last year’s gruelling trip from David Moyes, who had signed off the five-city trip to the States prior to his dismissal in April 2014. 

Van Gaal’s attention to detail has forced the organisers of the International Champions Cup - the inaugural tournament saw United beat Liverpool in the final in Miami last August - to delay confirmation of this summer’s competition until the 63-year-old was satisfied with his team’s arrangements. 

And it is understood that United are now putting the finishing touches to a tour that will see them based on the west coast due to Van Gaal’s desire to avoid the more humid and unpredictable weather on the eastern side of the States. 

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